head to head · open source
SurfSense vs fsnotes
SurfSense has 16,169 GitHub stars, 1,538 forks, 130 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fsnotes has 7,497 stars, 578 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. SurfSense leads on adoption by 116% (16,169 vs 7,497 stars). SurfSense is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; fsnotes is written in Swift under MIT. SurfSense has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, fsnotes 8%. SurfSense was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| SurfSense | fsnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 578 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SurfSense if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick fsnotes if
- You want the fsnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and fsnotes fits your workflow better
About SurfSense
SurfSense is an open source NotebookLM alternative and privacy first knowledge base that can work with any AI model chosen by the user. It is a Python productivity and knowledge management project in the agent, RAG, LangChain, LangGraph, FastAPI, Next.js, and Ollama ecosystem. The project presents itself as an open web research platform for AI agents, with live data connectors and a built in knowledge base that keeps findings searchable with citations.
read the full SurfSense overview →
About fsnotes
FSNotes is a fast, native Markdown and plain text note taking app for macOS and iOS, written in Swift 5 and released under the MIT licence, built for people who want their notes kept as portable files rather than inside a proprietary database.
read the full fsnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SurfSense or fsnotes more popular?
SurfSense has 16,169 GitHub stars and fsnotes has 7,497. SurfSense has the larger community by that measure.
Are SurfSense and fsnotes free?
Both are open source. SurfSense has no licence declared in this registry, and fsnotes is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SurfSense and fsnotes?
SurfSense is written in Python and fsnotes in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, SurfSense or fsnotes?
Choose SurfSense if you want the larger community (16,169 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose fsnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.